Shop Small, Benefit Big

By Stephen Kreis

June 2016

Forty-five years ago, a McDonnell Douglas Tooling buyer was looking for a new supplier to support a growing F/A-18 assembly line. My dad had started his tool-and-die business just one year earlier in a small Chicago storefront. The buyer picked up a Chicago Yellow Pages phone book and turned to the Machine Shop section. He decided that my dad's shop sounded like a potentially good fit and dialed the number. When my dad's German accent answered the phone, the buyer knew he found his supplier. Old-world quality met a new-world technology, and a partnership was born.

Our family-run business has been a proud supplier of Boeing and McDonnell Douglas since that first random phone call. We are now in our third generation. Boeing's support of small business has been instrumental in our company's growth and success. We are grateful for the leadership Boeing has shown, as well as the business opportunities provided in tooling, mechanical ground support, simulator devices and machine parts. Thank you, and congratulations on a great 100 years!